Viscous fluids are often used in hydraulic fracturing operations to suspend proppant and create wide fractures within the formation. The most common method for generating highly viscous fluids involves crosslinking hydrated polymers with metal or borate ions, resulting in a crosslinked polymeric network. However, in addition to requiring multiple additives, these networks can be permanently damaged by high shear rates, reducing their ability to transport proppant. Contrary to the use of highly viscous fluids, hydraulic fracturing operations commonly referred to as “water fracs” use ungelled water and rely on the use of high pumping rates to fracture rock and place proppant. This method is beneficial for certain formations. However, due to the low viscosity of water frac fluids, the size and concentration of proppant used in these operations are more limited than in crosslinked fracturing operations, potentially lowering the conductivity of the fractures and negatively affecting production rates.